Irish Visa Question

Dave

Hi, just a little visa question, I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but after looking through the lists, this seems like the best bet.

Anyway, I'm Irish but I live and work in Dubai, my girlfriend, who lives here also, is Nigerian and we want to go to Ireland for a visit during the summer. After looking through the Irish Government websites (which consist of broken links and misinformation) I'm still none the wiser about how to go about doing it. There's no Irish embassy over here to consult, so I'm basically looking to see if anyone has previous experience on this.

Cheers!

Shayman

Irish Consulate Dubai: 00 961 1 4882300

Irish Embassy Saudi Arabia Controls it. www.embassyofireland.org.sa

dudara

Moved to Travel & Holidays

dudara

Dave

Thanks shayman, but I'm sort of looking for someone that has personal experience, so I can know what to expect when sorting the whole thing out.

undo

I know someone who is from way outside the EU and married to an Irish man. Due to that marriage, she falls into a special visa category - she still needs one but it is no hassle to get it. It would seem that your girlfriend is in a similar situation. If you were married, it would be easy. Since you are not married, most likely, no special exemptions apply and things will be more difficult. The best thing really is to get in touch with the embassy/consulate and see what the story is.

CamillaRhodes

Hi Dave,

First of all, you should contact the Irish consulate in Dubai, they'll give you all the specific details (though the visa will actually be processed in the nearest embassy, so they consulate won't be able to give you a straight answer immediately).

In my experience with my non-EU boyfriend, to visit Ireland with me, he had to
- fill in a rather lengthy application form
- provide copies of any visas he's had in the past (if she's been to the EU in the past it will be to her benefit, but the fact that she's already working internationally will also probably help)
- provide a letter showing proof of employment
- provide last 6 months' bank statements
- provide any other supporting documents to prove he wasn't gonna do a runner when he got to Ireland (i.e. he owns an apartment and car in his home country, so he included details of that)

Then, I provided
- a letter of invitation from me, an Irish citizen, saying I wanted him to visit my country with me
- proof of my employment and
- my last 6 months' bank statements
- copy of my passport

I couldn't believe how much paperwork they wanted, just for a holiday visa! But there ya go. Incidentally, if you couldn't provide all the above, you could get a family member at home to invite your girlfriend to Ireland. Also, the consulate told my boyfriend that he would not be granted a visa if he wasn't either working or studying full-time at the time of application.

It took about 10 days from the time of submission of the application to when he was granted the visa - i think this may vary from embassy to embassy, though, so don't leave it too close to when you want to travel.

Good luck!

steve-o

I'd recommend that when you get the Irish visa sorted, don't book flights that go through the UK since your GF would need to apply for a UK visa. You are probably best off to take the non-stop flight from Abu Dhabi to Dublin.

As Shayman mentioned, there is an Irish consulate in Dubai - it's located in the Monarch hotel.

undo

steve-o wrote: »

I'd recommend that when you get the Irish visa sorted, don't book flights that go through the UK since your GF would need to apply for a UK visa.

Only if the flight to the UK and the onward one from the UK are booked on separate tickets. If it is a connecting flight and you never leave the transit area, no visa should be required.

steve-o

undo wrote: »

If it is a connecting flight and you never leave the transit area

In most UK airports you need to go through UK immigration to get from a long haul flight to any UK or Ireland flight. Going the other way there are in theory no checks, but being caught there without a visa is not going to have a good ending.

undo

My friend flies Dublin-Kiev via London with bmi (and return) a lot and never needs to get a UK visa. I am not sure which London airport she uses.